If you've got a taste for piping hot, high-calorie donuts and chicken (and who doesn't once in a while?), a pair of Jewish restaurateurs have you covered at the rapidly expanding Federal Donuts [1].

Michael Solomonov and Steven Cook, along with coffee connoisseurs Thomas Henneman and Bob Logue and food expert Felicia D’Ambrosio, opened their first no-frills donut joint just past the intersection of 2nd and Federal Streets in October 2011. It was quite a departure from the chefs' previous upscale Center City endeavors such as Zahav and Xochitl. But long lines of customers didn't seem to care about the decor - or the fact that the menu only offered three items: coffee, donuts and...fried chicken?

Aside from becoming a neighborhood cult favorite, customers traveled from far and wide to sample the acclaimed fried goodies - including food writers [2] from the New York Times.

To the delight of Center City foodies, the donut dream team opened a second location at 1632 Sansom Street this October. Find the same items on the menu - but new flavors, including Mint Chocolate Cookie, Lemon Bar, Maple Bacon, Green Tea-Sesame, Spicy PB&J and Butter Pecan "fancy" glazed donuts, plus hot, made-to-order varieties seasoned with Turkish Mocha, Strawberry-Fennel or Vanilla Spice sugar blends.

According to the Uwishunu [3] blog, the addition of the Sansom Street location means the popular eatery can now produce three times the amount of donuts and chicken, so customers might face fewer within-hours sell-outs. Just in case, you can be sure you won't miss out by coming around 11 a.m. when staff takes the first orders of fried chicken or following the shop on Twitter @federaldonuts.

Federal Donuts


1219 S. Second Street

1632 Sansom Street
Both locations are open seven days a week starting at 7 a.m.
More info: Visit the Federal Donuts website [4]